The term Great American Desert was used in the 19th century to describe the western part of the Great Plains east of the Rocky Mountains in North America to about the 100th meridian.
The area is now usually referred to as the High Plains, and the original term is now sometimes used to describe the arid region of the Southwest, which includes parts of northern Mexico and the four deserts of North America.
Read more about Great American Desert: The Concept of "desert", Settlement and Development
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